Monday, October 29, 2012

We often hear complaints about what students say and do online, but we often neglect to look into educators helping them manage their online reputation. This infographic is geared toward adults, but it can serve as a great starting point for conversations and activities that educators can engage in with students to help them to establish an active digital footprint that represents who they want to be perceived as online.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Here a step, there a step, everywhere a step step. You may have noticed that today, steps matter.

So, how many steps have you taken today:

If you haven't caught on, the latest data tells us adults need at least 10,000 steps a day to remain healthy and steps they are a taking. From walking the stairs, to parking further away to taking a few laps around the block while reading the latest research paper.

Pedometers are on the rise and considering that they're built into many of the mobile devices teachers and students own and love, it's no surprise that this healthy and affordable trend has taken off.

So, how are our students doing?

Ummm...

Uh...

Well, no one cares about our child obesity. Life/death-Peh! We measure student achievement not by how healthy young people are, but on how well they've mastered the finger exercise of drill, kill and bubblefill on standardized tests.

Interestingly, if we allowed children to get up and move as nature intended we'd find that activity, movement and play is not only crucial for boosting brain power, it also is a great way to alleviate ADD/ADHD symptoms.

Parents, teachers, and young people would agree that health and movement is important. Let's refocus priorities from memorization and regurgitation to ensuring our students reach their optimal daily movement of about 12,000 steps a day for young people. Let's restore a move to the endangered practice of free time or recess and let our children get out and do, run, play.

Let's close down schools who keep our students sedentary and don't respect their personal fitness.

If you are an educator who is concerned about the health of yourself, your colleagues, and your students, start a knowledge movement. Track steps. Chart steps. Take a step in the right direction so that adults and young people can beat this obesity epidemic and move toward the road to a healthy life.
______________________________You can find even more ideas for using mobile devices in the classroom by reading Teaching Generation Text: Using Cell Phones to Enhance Learning.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog this week. Below you’ll see the top weekly posts along with the number of pageviews. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you. If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired, share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Editor’s note: I feel fortunate to be living during a period in our history where for the first time we can easily form social learning circles that bring together from around the world, experts, authors, and others that share passions and can engage in rich and meaningful dialogue. The power of the technology to connect in ways never before possible is a game changer when it comes to learning. I have brought together one such amazing network of people who come together to think about and grapple with issues of ed reform and alternatives to the status quo with The Innovative Educator group. Here is a piece of that learning where education icon Deborah Meier shares some of her thoughts on the common core.

Its a nice thought--that it [Common Core] is offering a "common language". I wish it were. But common core as presently understood is a 13 year mandatory curriculum (developed largely by experts in testing, not the subject matter being tested) of what is to be taught--and in what sequence. It ignores the power of the interests and ideas that come from students and teachers as the basis for forming curriculum"--or of picking up from the world around us our "curriculum". Starting "where we are" intellectually and moving out from there--a common approach to thematic studies, for example. Or spending months on one "small" part of history or science, in order to be able to ask deeper questions and make deeper sense--rather than covering" a lot in order to be prepared for shallow tests. (Uncovering vs covering as we sometimes say.) etc, etc.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Editor's note: Social media has changed how many innovative educators have watched important current events such as the presidential debates. What about their parents?

Guest post by Jennifer Bond @teambond

As I watched the Presidential Debate at my parent’s house with my iPad as a companion I opened up TweetCaster and started reading the tweets from my personal learning network (PLN) as well as from those tweeting with the hashtag #debate. As the debate began I shared some Tweets with my parents who acknowledged them but didn’t really say much. As the debate progressed I shared some more tweets. My mom seemed intrigued and took my iPad. She read through the feed and was excited to find a commonality with my Tweeps sharing, “I said that same thing a couple minutes ago!” “Yes mom,” I replied. “Twitter allows you to validate your thoughts.”

Monday, October 22, 2012

If you’re an innovative educator who cares about addressing issues that are relevant in the world, you're talking to your students about the debate. Analyzing the #debates tweets is one great way to take a look at the presidential candidates and utilizing the free Storify tool is a great way to tell the story they want to share.Storify lets you turn what people post on social media into compelling stories. With Storify, you collect the best photos, video, Tweets and more to publish them as simple, beautiful stories that can be shared anywhere. Storify is a great way to make meaning of and remember important events. Here are ideas for doing that.

If you or your students have Tweeted during the debate, create a Storify of student, teacher or class Tweets.

Storify #debates Tweets of someone (or more) they know and tell the story of this person’s political views.

Storify the #debates Tweets of a celebrity they admire and discuss that person’s political views.

A lesson such as this is not only a terrific way to analyze current events, it is also a real and relevant way to empower your students to understand how the power of social media in conveying a message, creating a brand, and winning or losing an election.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Regardless of which side you fall on when it comes to the math wars, most will agree that many students leave high school, and even college, unprepared to handle their own finances. Some would agree that we have become distracted with the potential ability of math to predict future academic success or support critical thinking? In the meantime, we have lost focus on preparing young people for what will matter in their real lives. If the education system were to provide some financial literacy classes for kids, it could make a tremendous difference in the economic success of society.Why it Would HelpIf the educational system provided financial literacy classes, it could change the way that people operate later in life. People would be know how to save money, how to invest, and how to avoid debt. If more people were able to hold onto their money, society would be much wealthier overall, which would lead to fewer problems.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog this week. Below you’ll see the top weekly posts along with the number of pageviews. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you. If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired, share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Guest post by Shawn RubinWhether you're flipping your classroom, or enhancing learning, there’s no denying that instructional video can be a powerful tool in the classroom. With older students video has the ability to stimulate conversation or elucidate a complex concept, but with younger children we don’t “sit down” to watch video. We use video to “get down” or more appropriately to get up, move around the room, sing, dance, and act. In grades k-2 video is more than a digital method of conveying information it’s an engaging catalyst for learning that is used to grab attention. This allows for repetition or practice, which leads to retention of information as well as the expansion of ideas, thoughts, and conversations. There are many skills that are valuable for early readers and mathematicians. Focused attention is important in order for that initial concept acquisition to begin. When channeled properly this focused engagement allows children who may be struggling on pencil and paper the ability to flourish through visual stimulus. Whether it’s vocabulary acquisition, concept memorization, item sequencing, story retelling, or simply learning a song, video has the power to imprint visual cues and mental bookmarks onto teacher lessons. Unlike most teacher-centered introductions of skills and content, video has a clearly defined start and end point. Students understand that they must bring their attention forward at the time the play button is clicked and for the next few minutes they know exactly where their focus should be. There are some great videos, like this children’s song or this nature clip that have the ability to imprint themselves in students minds the first or second time they watch them. But teachers who let the video do all the work while the children just sit and watch will ultimately limit how often video can go be used in their classrooms because eventually the new “fantastic videos” will replace the learning that was derived from the previous clips the students watched.However, when teachers combine the power of digital media with the kinesthetic reinforcement of movement, dance, acting, sign language and finger play they double the video’s impact and give it stand-alone capability. By creating unique movement based features for each video that enters the classroom the teacher allows the child a greater chance at recalling the content, process, or skill, while increasing the student’s ability to apply and own this learning for later application. Shawn Rubin serves as the Director of Technology Integration at the Highlander Institute in Providence, RI. Shawn oversees the Institute’s blended learning and technology integration professional development programming. Shawn is also the CEO of Metryx, a start-up mobile software company that is building flexible assessment tools for educators to use on tablets and smartphones. Shawn began his education career as a founding faculty member of the Highlander Charter School teaching a range of grades including four years of kindergarten during his 11 years in the classroom. Shawn lives in Providence with his wife and two sons. You can find Shawn @shawncrubin or srubin@highlanderinstitute.org.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Another reason I'm not flipping over the flipped classroom model is that passively watching videos isn't great pedagogy. Now there's a product that remedies this by allowing you to turn YouTube videos into online classes. Teachemis a free teaching platform that allows users to create time-stamped flashcards and review quizzes right on the videos themselves. The flashcards can not only help viewers check their understanding of the material being presented—like traditional flashcards, these can contain a question on the front and the answer on the back—but they can also serve to organize the information in the video, sort of like a table of contents. Classes are created within a school making it easy for innovative educators to organize all the classes that they want to share with their students. Professional development providers can keep all of their training videos together in one convenient spot.Teachem is free, simple to use, and gets the information that is already out there into a more concise, organized platform. Check it at at Teachem.com and learn more by watching the video below.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

LinkedIn has recently introduced the ability for members to directly follow over 100 of the world’s most influential industry thought leaders who will be sharing content about professional issues and topics. This provides a new way for young people to tap into the insight and professional advice of leaders from a variety of fields, including Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, Caterina Fake, Craig Newmark, President Barack Obama,

Cory Booker,and many more. This is a great way for students to kickstart their own professional and personal success.

These leaders will post content that includes videos, photos, and Slideshare presentations.

What’s nice is that this isn’t just one way communication. There’s interaction via a section for comments where they can have discussions on LinkedIn or share and discuss the content using social media or email.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Editor's note: Social media is a tremendous way for students to engage in meaningful work and causes. This is why it is so important for educators to be in the know when it comes to guiding and supporting all students in making a difference using this powerful resource. In the post below Stephanie Rivera shares some students worth following.

Students are waking up and using social media to make their voices heard for their rights, especially when it comes to education. Two students, Zak Malamed and Allison Wu took initiative and partnered up with Dell Education to revolutionize the way students use the social media site, Twitter. Every Monday night at 8:30 EST, students, and those who support them, from all across the globe join in to discuss issues in education with the hashtag #stuvoice (previously #studentvoice). To learn more about what a TwitterChat is, check this out.

With that being said, one #stuvoice supporter, Lisa Nielsen, suggested we compile a list of the Twitter handles of those who represent\support student voices. Zak Malamed went ahead and made a list on Twitter, and the below list will also bring attention to some youth who deserve to be heard.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Cell phones in the classroom: a boon or blight? That's the question many educators are facing these days.

Edutopia helps educators find the answer with their latest Classroom Guide, Mobile Devices for Learning: What You Need to Know. Not only is the guide packed full of resources and examples that show you how to effectively use mobile devices in the classroom, but it also features material from The Innovative Educator blog.